Brian:
> I just tried it and got
>
> Résultats 1 - 10 sur un total d'environ 573 pour
> "quatres heures".
Hmmm. Well, it's true that according to this link...
http://www.aidenet.com/scolaire/grammaire05a.htm
"Les adjectifs numéraux cardinaux sont invariables,
à l'exception de 'un', 'cent' et 'vingt'."
Now quite honestly, that rule has no clear basis
when formulated this way. Why "one", "100" and "20"?
What about "10"? It's practically random, and we all
know that arcane rules often get tossed quickly out
of a language in favour of analogical levelling.
The real rule on the street is that all numerals that
don't end in "s" or "x" can actually be found written
agreeing with the plural noun they modify. So
naturally, we can do nothing to "trois" (*troiss),
"deux" (*deuxs), "six" (*sixs) or "dix" (*dixs). The
rest are just begging to be pluralized.
We see the confusion present in these sites by
_francophones_ themselves as you see! It's not that
simple.
Here, I'd like to recommend to you some really great
books to read from Amazon:
"Les neufs vies du magicien".
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2070583600/402-7778604-0543333
"Les huits frères"
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DTA3O/qid=1126308767/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_8_2/402-7778604-0543333
"Les septs corbeaux"
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2736660676/qid=1126308823/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_8_2/402-7778604-0543333
"Annuaire des cinqs departements de la normandie
- 1870"
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DU9OS/qid=1126309142/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/402-7778604-0543333
"Les quatres voyages de Juan Buscamares : La terre"
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/220335688X/qid=1126308943/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_8_3/402-7778604-0543333
Either there are reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllly low standards
nowdays in the francophone book-publishing biz, or
this is in fact the norm.
And remember the first site I provided that started
this all? It alluded to the fact that saying
"quatre-vingt-z-onze" implies "eighty elevens",
not "91". That means that a pluralized "quatre-
vingts" must be _capable_ of modifying "onzes"!
= gLeN
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